Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Shailesh Paswan, 43, is a distraught man. His morning starts with the cries of her daughter and it ends after he and his wife Sunaina Devi, have cleaned the wounds of her daughter and put her in the bed.

A daily labourer from Chitnava village in Maner near Patna, last year on 21 October, he woke up to frantic cries of her daughters, Chanchal,19 and her 15 year old minor sister, who were attacked by 4 person who threw acid on them while they were sleeping on the terrace of their house.

“The caste culture in our area is very strong and the fact that my daughter, a lower caste girl and that too a girl, was attending school and stepping out of the house was not acceptable to them. Initially, she would come and tell me that they pass objectionable comments whenever she goes to school, so I told her to ignore them. I had never realized that I would have to pay such a heavy price for this. My daughter was a bright student and was doing computer course. We had thought of so many things for her. After she was born, I underwent vasectomy so that we could build their future. ”, Shailesh said.

His trouble did not end there. When he brought her daughters to Patna to the prestigious Patna Medical College Hospital, there also he was subjected to ‘torture’. “Bohat pareshan kiya humlogo ko, kaafi torture kiya. Nurse dawai ka bottle tod deti tee, doctor batameeji se baat karta tha. Baad mai hum woh aspatal chod deeye. Ab usko hum Safdarjung mai dikhwa rahe hain.”(They tortured us very much, the nurse would break the medicine bottle and the doctor would shout at us for no reasons. Later, we left that hospital. Now she is getting treatment at Safdarjung hospital, Delhi)

“None of the leaders came to meet me. We have given representation to everyone including Nitishji but nothing is happening. How will I afford her treatment? The accused are also pressurizing me to arrive at a compromise.” Shailesh asks.